Building An Engaged Workforce: An Integrated Model of Authentic Leadership, Servant Leadership and Employee Engagement in Kerala

Abstract

Purpose – This study investigates the influence of authentic leadership and servant leadership on employee engagement among employees working in Kerala, India. It integrates two values-based leadership perspectives in a parsimonious model and evaluates their unique contribution to employee engagement.

Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative, cross-sectional design was adopted. Data were obtained from 628 respondents selected through simple random sampling from the available employee sampling frame. The questionnaire measured Authentic Leadership (AL), Servant Leadership (SL) and Employee Engagement (EE) using eight indicators Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, discriminant-validity diagnostics and a PLS-SEM-style composite structural analysis with 5,000 bootstrap resamples were used.

Findings – Authentic Leadership (M = 3.878) and Servant Leadership (M = 3.774) were rated relatively favourably, whereas Employee Engagement was lower (M = 2.633). AL correlated positively with EE (r = 0.447) and SL correlated positively with EE (r = 0.433). In the structural model, AL had a positive effect on EE (β = 0.281, p < .001) and SL also had a positive effect (β = 0.231, p < .001). The model explained 22.6% of the variance in EE. However, the EE measurement block showed unacceptable reliability (Cronbach’s α = 0.074), requiring item-level verification before the results can be treated as a fully validated PLS-SEM model.

Originality/value – The study combines authentic and servant leadership in a single employee-engagement framework in the Kerala context. It contributes context-specific evidence from India and highlights the need to distinguish statistically significant structural paths from adequate measurement quality in leadership-engagement research.